VaGuS510

What year Z's have a rear strut that is compatible with my 73.

I found a new way to remove the rear control arm bushings. Like other ways: Torch the bushings to remove the inner sleeve. Then use a 1" drill to remove the rubber. Instead of using a hack saw to cut the pressed in sleeve, try this. Use a dremal with a cutt-off disk on it. I actually stack 3-4 cut-off disks. Run the dremal in and out of the sleeve slowly grinding away at the length of the sleeve in one area. You may say "but what if I grind through then I am screwed." If you go slowly enough and don't stay in one area for too long you wont have a problem. When it starts to get thin slow down and watch the sleeve where you are grinding. You are looking for it to turn blueish-purple. When it turns color, stop grinding that area and grind your whole area to get that color. The color tells you that the metal is thin enough to break by scratching with a screwdriver. Then just knock it out or pull it out with a hammer or vise grips.

So on Friday i decided to tackly my suspension finally. The plan was new polygraphite bushings from PST, struts, wheel bearings, ball joints and tie rod ends and probably something I am forgetting. I started with the rear on Friday. The drivers pivot pin was a pain, but finally came out once I got angry enough. The passengers side wan't as fun. I started with the classic hammer. IT FAILED I got a bigger hammer, 5lb sledge IT FAILED I got a bigger hammer, 20lb sledge It FAILED I cut the pin off the control arm and maxed out a 20 ton press and heated IT FAILED Time to think. . . ouch . . . Nothing to lose. . . Drill the pin out. My machinist friend and I set it up, on his mill, and began drilling. We didn't want to drill the entire pin out but rather drill it untill the walls were thin. Hopefully, while drilling, the pin would start spinning. After drilling out to .595 we were still out of luck. We tried to drive it out. Apearently, we either didn't set the strut level in the vise, or it vibrated out of level while drilling. The drill went crooked and while trying to drive out the pin we broke a piece of the casting of the strut. We did get the pin out though but I need a new passengers side strut if anyone has one avilable.

Anyone recall that the first time Ford asked Carrol Shelby to make a special edition racing Mustang Carrol responded by calling the Mustang a secretary's car. Shelby even admits that the Cobra which made him famous had a horrible chassis. He said that whenever the competition got close they put on larger tires and a bigger engine. If this was already mentioned, I am sorry, I am not patient enough to read 10 pages.

Yeah that looks nice, I would pay the $5500 (if I only had it).

why a Z? The aerodynamics will never work. You may make it to 200mph if you don't go airborn at 180mph. Cheaper and smarter would be a C5 Corvette. Factory it goes 175 with 350hp. Bumping that up to 700hp is $10k maybe a little more and that would get you really close. You can get a C5 for about $25000. So $35K to $40k and I think 200mph is attainable but why try in a Z.

As was mentioned many times, do the engine and tranny together. I did on my Z, but I needed to. It really isn't any harder to get it in and out of a Z. I have a Datsun 510, that thing has a tinny engine bay, but believe it or not I also pull both the tranny and engine on that. I had the tranny rebuilt and put it in from the bottom. After about 45 minutes of holding the transimission 12" off the ground I managed to align the input shaft. If I had to replace a tranny again I would honestly pull the whole engine, It would probably be easier and take just as long.

My 2 cents. I think if you want to lower your car, then this is how it ideally would be done. This would drop your car as low as you want it and bearly effect anything. It would be a rather difficult process though. You need to do what is called a spindle drop. In stead of reducing the spring height to move the hubs up, why not just move the hubs up? This would maintain all of your factory suspension geometry (no alignment or bumpsteer problems), it would also maintain the full factory suspension travel (allow a softer spring for those who desire the smooth ride). The problem is that this would be difficult, on a Z at least. In the rear you need to somehow loosen the tube that holds the strut insert from the hub portion and then raise that collar up the strut tube. Then you need to lower the lowest section of the hub where it connects to the suspension arm. In the end the strut should be the same length but the hub should be higher on the strut. This same technique works on the front. I know the Porsche 911/930 front struts spindle can be raised simply by drilling out a spot weld, raising the spindle and rewelding it to the strut. I havn't looked into doing this on my Z, but it is definatly possible. The car would still benifit from coilovers, they would allow a wider tire and adjusibility.

Thanks for all of the great advise. I am still considering sandblasting. I figured it would be dirty. I was planning to basically put a tarp around the whole engine bay. It does seem like it would be easy to remove the primer by other methods since it is coming off. But the engine bay has some really hard to get to places, I figure that sandblasting would surely get all of those areas. Anyways, thanks again and keep the advise coming.

I have a 510 project, I'm hoping that by the end of the summer i can have it painted and running. It is basically a shell right now. Anyway the previous owner spayed the engine bay with rattle-can primer and didn't prep it before. The primer comes off easily in many areas. I figure i should paint the engine bay while i have the chance but I need to remove this primer. I was thinking of bringing it to a sandblasting place but then thought that the cost would probably be similar to that of a cheap sandblaster and material. How well do these cheap (sub $100) work? Is it worth the money? Thanks.

If you show up in a 1972 Skyline I don't think being the only Nissan will be a problem. I would consider it, but that is right before I have finals, so. . . no fun for me.

73 has a fuel pump to prevent vapor lock because it had the crapy carbs. Anyways i realized that since I have replaced the crappy carbs with SUs the fuel pump wiring won't work. It would work but I would need the throttle servo and silinoid setup. That is too much trouble. Now I am looking to tap into those wires that are already running to the rear of the car. I can seem to figure out where the wires run. It goes to the back of the car with the fuel pump sending unit wiring. Anyone know where those wires run from under the dash. Lastly, where can I get a feul pressure switch for the fuel pump? Would Kregen have it? Thanks.

I just got an rx7 fuel pump from an 82 rx7. I mounted it and set the filter up and everything works good except for my wiring. Here is the deal. I have a 73 240z, which had the factory electric fuel pump. From what I have read this fuel pump is supposed to go whenever the engine is over 600rpm. I figured this would be the perfect place to wire the rx7 pump up to so I did. This setup is not working. I checked the fuse, and the wiring to it and found a problem. I fixed it and still I am not getting any power to the pump. I have tested the pump, it works. Has anyone set their fuel pump up like this on their 73 240x or 260z?

I have a question, why the 3.5L. Did you have it lying around? My brother has a 1992 325i Seden (Shaved door handles, moldings and license plate area). It has the M50 engine with a chip and exhaust, I love driving that car. The rev limiter is now at 7000rpm and it revs so freely that you feel like you can go to 9000rpm. It isn't a torque monster but once it hits 3000rpm that engine goes like hell. I have an engine block on the side of my house, and you are tempting me just talking about this stuff. I could never bring myself to do it anyways. A Ford belongs in a Ford and a Chevy in a Chevy, and a Nissan in a Nissan. Oh yeah, and a punk in a BMW.

This isn't exactly any Oldsmobile, this is a 442 W-30. These things are super rare. It is rare beyond series 1 rare. If Nissan put out a special edition 240z with a 200hp+ turbo DOHC 6 cylinder, modified suspension and aluminum body then yes I think it would go for 200k. But Nissan never did that. I think Z prices will increase especially when people realize that they can get a beautiful classic sports car and good gas milage.

if you want stock struts summit racing has KYB GR2 struts for $49 a piece. So about $200.

good point i forgot about the front lights

Does this cause any problem with the flasher relay(or whatever it is called)? I have heard that when switching to LED tail lights you need to run an electronic flasher relay so that you blinkers will still blink. By electronic I mean one that has a power lead going to it.

I hate to say it but that car is basically scap metal. The worst part is that roof. That would make an ideal race car platform if the roof didn't need work. I say this one is just too far gone. Good luck making the decision. Nothing is impossible, but not everything is worth it.

I think 250 at the flywheel should be safe, this would be a turbo engine, bored to 85mm and stroked to 79mm nearly making it an L28. The only major benifit of the L28 turbo blocks is that they have siamesed coolent passages between the first three and last three cylinder walls. This makes the block stronger. Someone correct me if i am wrong but i believe most racing 240z's have to use a stock 240z block. I figure if the F54 block can take 400hp reliably then a P90 block should be able to take 250hp. For me, 250hp would be enough.

But do you have four of them? The saddest part is the amount of money that he probably put into that car, and that somone will pay what he is asking.

I know from experiance that you can weld thru almost anythingLOL my biggest concern would be if it was made to be welded thru, if not it might release fumes that arn't very healthy:knockedou I would stick with the stuff that was made to be welded thru. I could weld thru galvinized coating all day long if I wouldn't pass out from the fumes.

I read somewhere that the N42 or maybe it was the n47 head was prone to cracking. Is this true? I was convinced to get off my butt and get out the trusty "How to Modify your Datsun/Nissan OHC engine" book. Heres what I get from it: E31- Combustion chambers: 42.5cc, Intake valves: 1.65in , Exhaust valves: 1.30in Common modifications: 1.73in intake valves and 1.38in exhaust, DANGER: an E31 milled 1mm will give 11.3:1-11.5:1 compression ratio on an L28 w/ flat top pistions E88- Combustion chambers: 44.7cc, Intake valves: 1.65in , Exhaust valves: 1.38in Common modifications: I assume all of the same mods as the E31 but you already have the 1.38in exhaust valves, this is a great head to drop on an L28 P90- Combustion chambers: 53.6cc, Intake valves: 1.73in ?, Exhaust valves: 1.38in ? Common modifications: Best for low compression forced induction engines No other heads are mentioned meaning that really they probably arn't worth it. This information is assuming that the head is going to be modified (valves unshrouded, ports matched, polished, etc.) I wouldn't say after reading this that the E31 is any better then the E88, that extra compression could be recovered in other areas if you really were concerened with the 2cc difference. 2cc is significant but if you bore an L24 out 2 mm you will recover from that. Or you can stroke it to 79.0mm with an L28 crank and you will surpass the E31. With the correct setup both the E31 and E88 can achieve very simular results as far as compression. Lastly, are intake ports on E88 1.5in? I know they are on the E31.

why no bondo? Bondo gets a bad wrap because it is abused. People that don't know how to used it try to. I have a 510 project car and it had probably over a gallon of plastic body filler on the rear tail light panel. No joke, it was over an inch thick in spots. This gives plastic filler a bad image but in reality, if you use the least amount possible no one will ever know. It will look just as good and probably save you a lot of money. In fact, most of the time idiots use plastic filler to cover their shotty work. Most of the time the shotty work becomes obvious elsewhere, like the paint itself.

I know this isn't the right place for this but I want to get some more attention. The classified ads obviously arn' t the reason people come to this site. Anyways, I need an air cleaner, flapper or not I don't care, but has to fit roundtop su carbs. I also need a set of stock springs that arn't sagging. I don't have the cash to upgrade at this time but I think that my rear springs are sagging. Thanks.